Actor
Lenny Montana
March 13, 1926 · Brooklyn, New York, USA
Tall and solidly built, this Italian-American professional wrestler turned actor was born Lenny Passaforo in Brooklyn, New York, and is best remembered for his first on-screen role as the not too bright but ever loyal bodyguard Luca Brasi in The Godfather (1972). Montana didn't get a lot of screen time before being eliminated by the henchmen of opposing gangster Al Lettieri with a garrote and a knife; however, he caught the eye of casting agents and over the next ten years racked up roles in 16 movies. Usually cast as "muscle for hire", he was equally good at playing the intimidating thug or a buffoonish hoodlum, such as in Battle Creek Brawl (1980) and The Jerk (1979). His last film appearance was in the B-thriller Blood Song (1982), which he also co-wrote. He died in May 1992 of a heart attack while in Italy.
Notable work
Often works with
Marlon Brando
3 titles together
The Godfather, Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television, The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
Al Pacino
3 titles together
The Godfather, Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television, The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
James Caan
3 titles together
The Godfather, Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television, The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
Robert Duvall
3 titles together
The Godfather, Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television, The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
Richard S. Castellano
3 titles together
The Godfather, Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television, The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
Diane Keaton
3 titles together
The Godfather, Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television, The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
Full filmography · 23
The Godfather: The Complete Epic 1901–1959
as Luca Brasi (uncredited)
2016
Halloween Monster Bash
as Skipper (archive footage)
1991
Blood Song
as Skipper
19824.9
Pandemonium
as Coach
19824.8
Evilspeak
as Jake
19815.3
...All the Marbles
as Jerome
19816.1
Below the Belt
as The Geek
1980
The Big Brawl
as John
19805.9
Defiance
as Whacko
19806.4
The Jerk
as Con Man
19796.9
Seven
as The Kahuna
19795.8
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
as Brick
1978